Recent National Spelling Bee stars explain how the 'Bee' changed their lives
Vanya Shivashankar referenced her Scripps National Spelling Bee experience during medical school interviews. Tara Singh has been a speller, regional partner and “College Crew” member by the age of 20. Dev Shah, the 2023 champion, felt compelled enough to defend the spirit of the Bee in an op-ed that was published in The Washington Post.
All three realize what the Bee has done for them. Although their competing days are in the past, and they continue their schooling with remarkable accomplishments outside of the classroom, they said they feel compelled to give back during “Bee Week” – which is also a great chance to reconnect with old friends and the larger competitive spelling community.
“I think the Spelling Bee has always been a really big part of my life,” Singh told USA TODAY Sports. “It taught me to keep calm under pressure. I really grew up on that stage. It taught me how to be dedicated, how to pivot – just a lot of really great skills I think are very beneficial for kids.”
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For Shivashankar, being the emcee of “Bee Week” isn’t merely a chance to reconnect with longtime friends and give back to the competition that made her a sensation nearly a decade ago.
It is also a family reunion.
Shivashankar hosts the Bee broadcast and keeps the action moving onstage. Her older sister, Dr. Kavya Shivashankar, watches each speller keenly as the backup head judge. And her father, Mirle Shivashankar, is a member of the world panel.
“It’s really a no-brainer for me to want to stay connected and want to give back in any way that I can because it’s also inspiring for me to see all of the students continue to blow us all away with their spelling skills,” Shivashankar told USA TODAY Sports.
Shivashankar has been attending Bee Week since she was 5 and loves her role of cheering on the spellers. She graduated from Yale in 2023 and spent the past year working as a medical assistant at a dermatology office in Washington, D.C. In the fall, Shivashankar will start at the University of Miami’s medical school.
“I’ll be referencing root words and language patterns throughout my entire career,” the 2015 co-champion said.
Outside of the classroom, the Bee taught Shivashankar a lot as well – camaraderie, focus, discipline, setting a goal.
“It really just shaped who I am today and what I want to do for the future,” Shivashankar said.
Shivashankar traveled to Nepal in the summer of 2022 as part of a research project on postpartum depression and sleeping habits in young mothers. She was engrossed in a new cultural experience and made connections with patients during the two months she spent there.
At Yale, Shivashankar volunteered as a community health educator at high schools in the New Haven, Connecticut, area and was involved in several projects that focused on spreading awareness about the lack of mental health access and the stigmas associated with mental health care.
“A lot of what I loved from spelling,” Shivashankar said, “was the aspect of education and teaching.”
Dev Shah: Reigning champ finds passion in prose
As an eighth grader, Shah spent 8-10 hours per day studying in preparation for the Bee. Shah has spent the past year answering the question he knew he’d face once his Bee days ended: now what?
“Because you’re just so hyper-focused on studying,” Shah told USA TODAY Sports. “When you win it, you don’t really imagine winning – you kinda do – but you don’t really imagine what happens afterward.”
He appeared on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” alongside “Abbott Elementary” stars Sheryl Lee Ralph and Chris Perfetti last month, but the highlight of the “surreal” year since his victory, Shah said, was honing his passion for writing.
Earlier this year, he began observing comments on YouTube and X that “the Spelling Bee is just memorization.”
Shah responded by penning an op-ed for The Washington Post, reflecting on his Bee journey and explaining why the Bee matters to him and many others.
“I feel like my voice shines a lot better when I am writing rather than speaking,” Shah said.
Shah, a Florida native, was also published in his hometown Tampa Bay Times and Fortune Magazine.
“I definitely miss it,” Shah said of his spelling days.
But Shah has not strayed too far from competition. He’s now running one, actually. Shah organized a virtual competition featuring 42 spellers – one from the U.S. Virgin Islands – in January. He hosted a webinar with the participants about how to prepare for a spelling bee.
Spellers paid a fee, and Shah donated the proceeds to libraries in his area. A local pottery shop designed a cactus-style trophy he presented to the winner.
Shah estimates he competed in at least 100 spelling bees over six years. While he was studying, he pictured himself announcing the words.
“This was just a continuation of the Spelling Bee,” Shah said.
Tara Singh: Four-time speller gives back at Bee and at home
Singh was 7 years old at the 2013 Bee, where she was the youngest competitor and “the shyest kid ever.”
“When you’re the youngest person at the Bee, there’s a lot of media around that,” Singh told USA TODAY Sports. “I think that was one of the major moments where I had kind of been playing around with the Spelling Bee (in) first and second grade … I realized that, ‘Oh, this is something big.’ I just kind of fell in love with it.”
Competing at such a young age was an outlet for Singh to exert creative energy, she said, and a fascination with language and “everything to do with English and beyond.” Singh is now pursuing degrees in political science and cultural anthropology, with a minor in linguistics, at Duke University.
“It’s been such a major part of my life for more than a decade,” said Singh, who finished in the top 10 during the 2018 Bee.
Singh is part of the “College Crew,” a group of a dozen undergraduate students who help “build the Bee.” They help Scripps employees and Bee staff run the competition and perform a variety of tasks, ranging from speller registration, controlling the Bee’s social media feeds and packing and unpacking supplies and materials.
A Louisville, Kentucky, native, Singh said she was startled by data revealing subpar literacy rates in her home state. She began the Bluegrass Literacy Project and started etymology workshops throughout the state.
“When I was a speller, I focused a lot on etymology: root words, language of origin, sort of learning the language patterns,” Singh said.
It’s one way to improve vocabulary and spelling. The Bluegrass Literacy Project, serving more than 10,000 children, also sponsored the Spelling Bee for the entire state of Kentucky and nine counties in southern Indiana. Making literacy education accessible beyond urban areas was another area of emphasis for Singh’s non-profit.
“I think all of that perspective has really taught me the inner workings of the Bee,” Singh said. “I’ve really fallen in love with the competition. It meant so much to me as a kid. And those three experiences have made me really excited to get re-involved this year.”